Descending pathways increase sensory neural response heterogeneity to facilitate decoding and behavior
Summary: The functional role of heterogeneous spiking responses of otherwise similarly tuned neurons to stimulation, which has been observed ubiquitously, remains unclear to date. Here, we demonstrate that such response heterogeneity serves a beneficial function that is used by downstream brain area...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-07-01
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| Series: | iScience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004223012166 |
| _version_ | 1797774557214408704 |
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| author | Michael G. Metzen Maurice J. Chacron |
| author_facet | Michael G. Metzen Maurice J. Chacron |
| author_sort | Michael G. Metzen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: The functional role of heterogeneous spiking responses of otherwise similarly tuned neurons to stimulation, which has been observed ubiquitously, remains unclear to date. Here, we demonstrate that such response heterogeneity serves a beneficial function that is used by downstream brain areas to generate behavioral responses that follows the detailed timecourse of the stimulus. Multi-unit recordings from sensory pyramidal cells within the electrosensory system of Apteronotus leptorhynchus were performed and revealed highly heterogeneous responses that were similar for all cell types. By comparing the coding properties of a given neural population before and after inactivation of descending pathways, we found that heterogeneities were beneficial as decoding was then more robust to the addition of noise. Taken together, our results not only reveal that descending pathways actively promote response heterogeneity within a given cell type, but also uncover a beneficial function for such heterogeneity that is used by the brain to generate behavior. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T22:22:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-877871d8d9814c39abc552292e59bf53 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T22:22:47Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj.art-877871d8d9814c39abc552292e59bf532023-07-23T04:55:41ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422023-07-01267107139Descending pathways increase sensory neural response heterogeneity to facilitate decoding and behaviorMichael G. Metzen0Maurice J. Chacron1Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 1Y6, CanadaDepartment of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 1Y6, Canada; Corresponding authorSummary: The functional role of heterogeneous spiking responses of otherwise similarly tuned neurons to stimulation, which has been observed ubiquitously, remains unclear to date. Here, we demonstrate that such response heterogeneity serves a beneficial function that is used by downstream brain areas to generate behavioral responses that follows the detailed timecourse of the stimulus. Multi-unit recordings from sensory pyramidal cells within the electrosensory system of Apteronotus leptorhynchus were performed and revealed highly heterogeneous responses that were similar for all cell types. By comparing the coding properties of a given neural population before and after inactivation of descending pathways, we found that heterogeneities were beneficial as decoding was then more robust to the addition of noise. Taken together, our results not only reveal that descending pathways actively promote response heterogeneity within a given cell type, but also uncover a beneficial function for such heterogeneity that is used by the brain to generate behavior.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004223012166NeuroscienceBehavioral neuroscienceSensory neuroscience |
| spellingShingle | Michael G. Metzen Maurice J. Chacron Descending pathways increase sensory neural response heterogeneity to facilitate decoding and behavior iScience Neuroscience Behavioral neuroscience Sensory neuroscience |
| title | Descending pathways increase sensory neural response heterogeneity to facilitate decoding and behavior |
| title_full | Descending pathways increase sensory neural response heterogeneity to facilitate decoding and behavior |
| title_fullStr | Descending pathways increase sensory neural response heterogeneity to facilitate decoding and behavior |
| title_full_unstemmed | Descending pathways increase sensory neural response heterogeneity to facilitate decoding and behavior |
| title_short | Descending pathways increase sensory neural response heterogeneity to facilitate decoding and behavior |
| title_sort | descending pathways increase sensory neural response heterogeneity to facilitate decoding and behavior |
| topic | Neuroscience Behavioral neuroscience Sensory neuroscience |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004223012166 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT michaelgmetzen descendingpathwaysincreasesensoryneuralresponseheterogeneitytofacilitatedecodingandbehavior AT mauricejchacron descendingpathwaysincreasesensoryneuralresponseheterogeneitytofacilitatedecodingandbehavior |